NOT SUCH AN ILL WIND AFTER ALL

A SUNNY, WARMER MORNING

EAB LARVAE FEEDING IN GALLERIES BENEATH BARK

EMERALD ASH BORER ADULT (BEETLE)

Wednesday, 9:00 AM. -5degrees F, wind SSW, light with occasional gusts.  The sky is cloudless, the humidity is 78% and the barometer is trending up, now at 30.44". It is noticeably warmer this morning.  Buddy and I should have taken a longer walk.  We will actually take him for a run somewhere after lunch today, he needs badly to really stretch his legs.

   It has oft been said that"I't's an ill wind that blows nobody some good," meaning that somebody or something invariably profits from a disaster or difficult circumstance.  It is beginning to look like the unusually cold temperatures of this winter may actually be a boon environmentally, by killing "70% to 95% of Emerald Ash Borer larvae in northern Wisconsin" (and one may assume Minnesota and Michigan as well) according to recent studies of the effect of temperatures below -8 degrees F on EAB larvae.  Given the ongoing severity of the winter, that mortality may extend further south as well. This would be important not only for urban forests but more importantly for the multi-millions of native ash trees of several species throughout the Great Lakes states.   I think the extremely cold temperatures may inhibit Gypsy moth reproduction as well.

  Another encouraging ecological development in the battle against the Emerald Ash Borer is the apparent adaptation of woodpeckers and  nuthatches  to feeding on the EAB larvae.  Large increases of the populations of these birds have been noted in areas of EAB infestation, according to research done under the auspices of  the University of Illinois at Chicago.  It evidently takes some time for predators to adapt to and take advantage of an unfamiliar prey species.

   These natural checks upon the spread of this foreign invasive species are far preferable to either chemical control or the introduction of non-native beetle predators (which themselves might become invasive pests).  It remains to be seen just how effective very low temperatures and natural predation will be on curtailing the EAB, but The Arctic Vortex may not be such an ill wind after all.